Watch This Overboosted Triple-Turbo Cummins Diesel Engine Explode on the Dyno

146 pounds of boost will do that.

byKyle Cheromcha|
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With extreme engines sporting quadruple-digit horsepower counts more common than ever, it's easy to forget about the incredible forces generated and contained within the block. Luckily, this 2,000-horsepower, triple-turbo Cummins diesel engine exploding during a dyno run serves as a helpful reminder.

Lavon Miller, owner of drag engine shop Firepunk Diesel, posted a video on Facebook last week showing the ill-fated power test in all its glory. The 6.7-liter, six-cylinder diesel mill was jacked up with 146 pounds of boost and likely making above 2,000 horsepower when the failure occurred, according to Road & Track. Thankfully, the professional testing room at Marlatt Engines & Dyno is sealed off, so no one was injured when the engine quite literally exploded under full load.

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Forget about throwing a rod through the block—the blast sent basically the entire engine spiraling through the air, showering the room with metal shrapnel as the exposed crankshaft spun angrily to a halt. That kind of catastrophic failure can have several causes, but given the hyperbolic forces at work in a drag-built engine, we can only imagine that Miller and company have found the limits of that particular cylinder construction.

YouTube | Bruce Wilson

All that remains of the engine is a smoldering mess. Miller told Jalopnik that he planned on getting it up to 2,400 horsepower, so it looks like he'll be starting from scratch. But he seems to have the right attitude, captioning his video of the blast with "If you can't be great, be spectacular!" and reposting other clips from the company Facebook account.

As he points out, it would have been far more disastrous for this to happen out on a racetrack. And really, that's the nature of testing—this engine died so others may live.

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